Krystiana Rizo began bartending when she was in college in her hometown of San Antonio, Texas, a common tale for many young bartenders. But for Rizo it was more than just a job to pay bills—it was the beginning of a long and rewarding career in hospitality. “Once I started learning from more seasoned bartenders, I realized you could have a career in restaurants and that is what I truly wanted to do,” she says. Rizo continued bartending in venues across the city for years following college, and after getting married she and her husband made the big move to New York City in 2016 in hopes of making their hospitality career dreams come true.

And come true they did: After several years working at restaurants throughout the city, Rizo and her husband Dave launched a pop-up Tex- Mex restaurant in February 2020 called Yellow Rose, which appeared in different bars and music venues around the city with Dave managing the cuisine and Rizo running the beverage side. “We were inspired by the lack of representation of food and beverage from our hometown and South Texas cuisine in general in New York; it was always a joke that there isn’t any good Tex-Mex here, so we sought to change that narrative,” Rizo says. “We always knew that we wanted Yellow Rose to be a brick and mortar, so once the opportunity presented itself, we jumped on it.” Despite the pandemic raging around them, the couple successfully opened their East Village Yellow Rose location in November 2020—and they have plans to open a second restaurant called Rose Marie in Brooklyn this summer.

At Yellow Rose, Rizo offers cocktails ($13-$16) that are interesting and seasonal and also familiar and fun. “We use in-season fresh produce from the Union Square farmers market in all of our cocktails,” she says. Recent seasonal drinks included Rizo’s Franklin Coquito ($16), blending orange peel and sugar-infused Planteray Original Dark rum, Cardamaro amaro, St. Elizabeth allspice dram, Coco Lopez cream of coconut, and orange juice, and her Dancin’ Shoes ($16), comprising house-made limecello, Cocchi Americano and Campari aperitifs, lime juice, simple syrup, and Topo Chico mineral water. “I always thought it was a shame that food menus at restaurants were ever-changing but cocktail menus mostly stayed the same,” Rizo adds. “I thought, ‘Why can’t cocktails use seasonal produce and change every season as well?’ It’s a lot in the moment, but it’s worth it.”